Mdown

Distraction free markdown notes with AI.

Open Source

Writing

Notes

GitHub

Hey guys! 👋 I’m really excited to finally showcase Mdown, an open-source notes app I’ve been working on. The project came from wanting a clean, distraction-free note-taking app. I’d used Apple Notes for years, but it just wasn’t ticking all the boxes for me anymore, so I decided to build my own solution, and sprinkle a little bit of AI into it too ✨ I love writing in Markdown. I use it for documentation, functional specs, meeting notes and even simple to-do lists. It was something I couldn’t properly use in my previous notes app, while tools like Obsidian felt a little too heavy-duty for what I needed. I didn’t want to build a complicated “second brain”. I just wanted a blank page I could write on without a bunch of buttons, sidebars and features distracting me. So, here’s Mdown. It has a super-simple UI: launch it, open your existing .md files directly or create something from scratch. There’s dark mode for those late-night writing sessions 🌙, live word and character counts, and it even tracks how long you’ve been writing for. It also uses the Monaco editor, the same editor that powers VS Code, under the hood, so you still get all the formatting power you’d expect when you need it. A little bit about the AI 🤖 Mdown is by no means an “AI-powered” tool. The AI is more of a useful addition that stays out of the way until you need it. It uses your own OpenAI API key, which is stored locally in your user directory, and you can choose which model you want to use. You can then highlight text and choose from three options: Improve: Keeps your writing style and meaning, but makes it a little cleaner and easier to read. Rewrite: Uses the selected text and surrounding document as context, then completely rewrites it. Prompt: Opens the AI sidebar and lets you describe exactly what you want to change. A few ways I’ve found Mdown useful Client meetings I’m often actively taking notes during meetings, and every now and then a client will ask me to send those notes over afterwards. Previously, I’d have to go through them, fix the rushed wording and tidy everything up before sending them. Now, I can simply highlight the notes, right-click and select Improve. It keeps them sounding like me, but makes them presentable enough to share. Writing documentation Sometimes I need to write a process document, technical specification or functional spec. Mdown lets me use the built-in AI tools to flesh out sections I’m struggling with without taking over the entire document. I’ve also added front-matter support, so you can define your own variables and turn documents into reusable templates. Drafting emails Sometimes I’ll have a page full of rough notes and need to turn them into an email. With a simple prompt, Mdown can use the document as context and draft the email for me, without needing to copy everything into another tool first. Summarising my week I like to keep a little todo.md file where I add the date each day and write down what I need to do, what I’ve completed and anything I need to think about. At the end of the week, I can simply ask Mdown to summarise it. It gives me a fully contextual breakdown of what I’ve worked on, which I can take straight into a meeting or use to write an update. A few other features 🌗 Light and dark mode Quickly toggle between light and dark mode depending on your preference. 🛠️ Built-in developer tools You can inspect elements, open the console and play around under the hood. 👀 Markdown preview Hit CMD + SHIFT + P to instantly see your rendered Markdown. ✨ AI sidebar Hit CMD + SHIFT + I to open the AI sidebar. You can switch between Ask mode, where you can ask questions about the contents of your document, and Edit mode, where the AI can make changes at your cursor. When you highlight text, Mdown tells the AI to focus on that selection while still using the rest of the document as context. ⌨️ Command Palette Because Mdown uses the VS Code editor, you also have access to the command palette, allowing you to transform text, run editor commands, use macros and much more. 📄 Front matter and document variables Add key/value variables at the top of your document and reuse them throughout your writing with {{ braces }}. This lets you instantly turn ordinary Markdown files into reusable templates, perfect for prompts, specifications, process documents, reports and anything else you find yourself writing repeatedly. Mdown is completely open source, so feel free to fork it, build it locally, have a look through the code or submit a feature request. I’d genuinely love to hear what you think, how you’d use it and what you’d like to see added next 🚀